Blindness
by Lost Rain
Summary: AU. A series of events leads a naïve and lost Sakura flying a space ship for a bounty hunter named Syaoran. SS
1. Chapter 1

Summary: AU A series of events leads a naïve and lost Sakura flying a space ship, for a bounty hunter named Syaoran. S+S

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me.

* * *

**Blindness**

Chapter 1

_Beep. Beep .Beep. Beep. _

An alarm clock shrilled in the calm, crisp morning. The blanket, which was wrapped about the object that needed to wake up moved, and groaned. The alarm continued to beep, and the girl inside the blanket did not stir.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

The phone, next to her ear rang even louder than the alarm. Along with the alarm clock, they all seemed to be ganging up on her to wake up.

She rolled over and groaned.

"Hello?" The girl picked the phone up and answered groggily.

"Sakura! What are you doing still at home! The test is about start!" The phone screamed at the girl.

"…Test? What test?" She rubbed her eyes as she tried to remember what happened last night.

"Our pilot test!" The phone said back to her in a calmer yet agitated voice.

It hit her, all too suddenly. The bar, where the neon green sign blinked over and over again, the drinks that she had last night to celebrate today's test, and setting the bet that she'd get her license before Meiling, her best friend. If only she could remember what the bet was, maybe then she'd get that feeling of dread out of her head.

Where Meiling was from and what was going through her head, Sakura never knew. The ruby eyed girl had been packing more drinks than her, and yet she was still awake and her normal self.

"Hello? Hey? Are you there?" Suddenly aware that the phone was still talking to her, the Sakura bid her friend a quick good-bye and rushed about the house trying to get dressed.

Running a brush through her hair in front of the mirror and brushing her teeth, she knew she wasn't looking her best. Her brown short hair was in a big mess, her usually bright and emerald eyes were glossed over and bloodshot.

"Huh, note to self, never get wasted and have gel in your hair," She smiled grimly at her reflection.

She quickly got dressed in her blue uniform, hoping that she'd get her license today, and rushed out of the house.

---

"Sakura! Thank the Gods that you are still on time!" Meiling, standing outside the maroon building waiting for Sakura in an identical blue uniform. Sakura smiled sheepishly at her and took in the big maroon building. It seemed much bigger than ever today. It was the test center, where all students of the Cadet University came to test and get their specialty licenses.

"Don't just stand there!" Meiling grabbed Sakura's arm and they rushed inside. Meiling took her Cadet ID and gave it to the receptionist, whom scanned her ID and looked at Sakura. She smiled and followed suit.

Walking into the test room, they were greeted by their fellow classmates.

"Morning Meiling! Morning Sakura!" Rika greeted them the moment they stepped into the room.

"Rika! Good luck later!" Sakura smiled.

"Yep, Yep, Good luck!" Meiling nodded in agreement, "When are we going to start?"

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us!" A girl with long blond hair walked over and smirked at the pair.

"Yea, and I just completely adore seeing you in the morning!" Meiling sneered at her.

"Good Morning Sarah!" Sakura smiled in her usual way of greeting.

"Come on, we're just waiting for you two!" Sarah rolled her eyes, still wearing her smirk.

"Glad to see everyone loves us so much! Isn't that right Sakura?" Meiling raised her eyebrows at Sakura.

Sarah put her hands up in defeat and walked away shaking her head. Meiling tugged at Sakura's arm and they followed Sarah to the stimulators lining up the walls.

The pilot test was quite simple to understand, but what it tested took some skill. Today, 67 students of the Cadet University were to be test against each other. The test, which was taken in a stimulated machine, is a race against other pilots, testing firing skills, dodging, evading, and moreover, against time. Each pilot for themselves, they would shoot each other down and evade attacks from fellow testers and try to get the finish line first.

Sakura settled into her stimulated station, and waited for her program to begin. The screen flashed that everyone was ready and ran though the course of the test. It wished them good luck and god speed, and a black starry backdrop appeared on the screen. Sakura started her machine and took the most difficult path, to avoid other pilots.

Avoiding space debris, she expertly flew, gaining confidence by the second. Suddenly someone took a shot at her. Apparently someone decided to take the same route and had caught up to her. Sakura had been sure of her speed; she usually took the route that no one would go on. She loved flying, but she hated the aggressiveness that a pilot had to have.

Remembering the problem at hand, she flipped her ship and did a summersault in the air, coming right on top of the other ship. As her thumb reached for the red button that would fire her missiles, the other ship darted to the left and disappeared.

Meiling, it was Meiling. Just like her to check up on how Sakura was doing and taunted her. For the first time ever, Sakura stepped up to the challenge, and flew into open space. It was already littered with ships that could no longer race. She pressed on her joystick and opened fire upon the ships ahead. Making her way across the debris, she finally saw it, the finish line. There was no one there yet, she fired a shot upon the ship in front of her, damaging its wing, and she flew ahead. But she had forgotten Meiling.

The most vicious fighter, was right behind her, waiting for her to clear up the road, and didn't alert her by firing upon her. Meiling locked on Sakura's ship, and it exploded in an orange flame. The orange flame tumbled across the finish line, just after Meiling reached it, with no damage at all.

"Good one, Good one!" Meiling got out of her stimulator and stretched. She raised an eyebrow at Sakura, who was looking a little down.

"Oh, come on! Remember our bet?" She smiled.

"Yep! I lost fair and square! Let's go!"

---

After a couple of cocktail drinks in a bar with Meiling, Sakura turned around at looked quizzically at her.

"Meiling?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you-"

"You know the answer to that question,"

It was always good to talk to someone when both parties are drunk, thought Sakura. It always gets the point across.

"When are the test results going to come out?"

"Ne-ver!" Meiling drawled out her words and finished her drink in a huge gulp. She started nodding her head to the beat of the song played in the bar.

"Let's dance!"

---

Sakura sighed as she stood up from the breakfast table.

"Hey mommy, today's the day! Wish me luck!" She smiled at the picture of her mom on the counter.

"Daddy, today I'll be getting my pilot's license!" Sakura said as she picked up the picture of her father. Putting it down, she picked up a picture of her older brother, and could only grin.

"Monster.." she whispered. It was such a long time ago.

"_Hey monster! What are you doing?" A boy, in his late teens smiled mockingly at a much younger Sakura._

"_Touya! I am not a monster!" Sakura stood up and put her hands on her waist. _

_He only grinned at her and picked up the book she was reading._

"_Monsters know how to read eh?" He said, amused._

"_Give that back!" She trampled on his foot and tried to grab for the book._

_She failed however, and he read the title._

"Flying and you_? What is this?" Touya asked, mockingly._

"_Touya!" Sakura huffed._

"_You're such a cute monster!" With that, Touya swept her up into his arms and carried her back in the house._

She smiled at the memory. Glancing up at the clock on her wall, she gasped.

"Ah! Look at the time! I'm going to be late!" With that, came the normal rush can only be described by the name Sakura left her house.

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A/N: Well, Here we go. My try at CCS fiction. Hope I did okay! Constructive criticism always appreciated. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me.

A/N: I've decided to move my a/n's to the beginning of story. Thanks so much to my reviewers! I totally stole the idea for this whole fic from Star Wars. XD, even Sakura's home planet. Also, since I wrote this chapter in the span of like, months, the tone changes rather much.

**Blindness**

Chapter 2

After taking her jacket off the coat hanger, Sakura made sure to lock the door behind her. Living in a city of such a populated planet was so much different than her small village back on Toluene.

Toluene, a tremendously backwater planet was peaceful and quiet. Her family worked in drilling, or pressuring the water to come up to surface and package it to be sold. Being a desert planet almost devoid of water, her family, the Kinomoto's made quite a hefty fortune. Sakura allowed a little smile for her thoughts of home.

Without watching the road, she strode on ahead to the Academy, having memorized the route a long time ago.

"Ouch! Watch it!"

Sakura accidentally bumped into an elderly man, who fell on the ground, glaring at her.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Sakura was quick to offer a hand in helping him up. He took her hand and stood up.

"Young people these days," The old man muttered and stalked off, wiping his hands on his gray pants.

Sakura could only shake her head. Vernis was so different from Toluene. Everyone was hostile and indifferent. One couldn't even see the sky anymore because of the tall skyscrapers. The flying motor vehicles flew over head, blocking what little sun that could have came through. Her thoughts drifted to wishing that the day she could leave this cold and distant place would come soon. To be able to fly everyday would be an absolute pleasure. And with these thoughts, Sakura pushed the doors to the academy and went inside.

"Sakura! Move it, we've got to get the Uris in five hours!" A voice somewhat disembodied came out of the spaceship _Kero_. Sakura took one last breath of Niue's air, and one last look at the peaceful ocean and ran back to the spaceship.

"Sorry Chiharu, I just love making deliveries here," Sakura smiled apologetically to her Captain.

"I know, I know, everyone loves this planet, and it's the hottest spot to go on a vacation. What's funny is that everyone comes here and buys souvenirs, and where do they come from? Mainland, and it's our job to fly 'em here!" Chiharu smiled, if not a little cynically.

In Sakura's mind Chiharu seemed too much in tune with reality. Sure she stopped to smell the flowers, but only to find the chemical breakdown. Either way it goes, Chiharu was an excellent captain and Sakura loved her to death.

"Did you know in the past that there was a legend that whoever was late is a 'rotten egg'? And the 'rotten egg' would of gotten a 'boot' and placed into the fire so the rottenness would go away –"

"Takashi, I'm warning you..." Chiharu's voice came from the cockpit.

Sakura settled herself down in the pilot seat and smiled. Takashi was the first mate, Chiharu and he were like ying and yang. Black and white, Takashi was full of, undoubtly, bullshit. They kept a perfect balance in life and Sakura would not have traded them for anything.

As she started the controls and began for take off, her thoughts drifted to half a year ago when she had just met them.

It was just after the coronation ceremony, when for the first time in a decade; the whole class passed and received their pilot's license. Meiling of course, gotten tops marks and went into training to become a fighter. The elite military force that flew around the universe saving people and killing bad guys, just what Meiling envisioned. Sakura however, lacked the marks to go into training and decided to do some odds and ends before she could accomplish what she started out to do.

She met with a scout from Avil, a company that specialized in deliveries across the galaxy. Not what Sakura had in mind to do for the rest of her life, but it was worth a shot.

And thus, she was enlisted an Avil Pilot, and was assigned to the ship _Kero_, and its habitants.

"What do you plan to do the rest of your life? Not flying goods around I hope," Chiharu's voice brought Sakura back from her thoughts.

Chiharu was sitting there, quietly in the co-pilot's seat, not that they were in need of one at all.

Sakura drew a deep breath and looked at the controls. The consol was full of them, checking the pressure, gravity, fuel, course and much more.

"Well?" Chiharu asked again.

"I, I don't know. This job is peaceful, and it has its rewards," Sakura answered focusing back on the starry imagery in front of her.

"It just seems, way to peaceful for you. Like the quiet before the tempest."

"Quiet? Peaceful? With you and around? Never! You two give me all the excitement I need,"

"I read your profile Sakura. As I do everyone of my crew members. Toluene, huh? Accused of treason and association with the dark lords, if I remember right. It certainly has been a while since a whole planet was condemned to such a fate," Chiharu said, somewhat accusingly and soft.

"The wrong shall be punished,"

"Sakura, I don't think Avil is going to last any longer. And I'm worried about you. Don't quote the government, you hate the government."

"Chiharu, I know. I know. This is going to be our last run together huh? That illegal goods things really messed everything up."

"I hate Vernis. Everyone is so distant there," Sakura continued.

"What do you plan on doing after this?" Sakura asked Chiharu back.

"Why you! I'll tell you my plans even if you don't. Takashi and I are getting married, and we'll probably open up our own transport company for the hell of it. Being a captain sure gets you places in the salary department!" Chiharu grinned.

Sakura had known of their engagement for quiet sometime now. There was no else out there that fitted perfectly like those two.

"I sure hope I'm invited to the wedding!" Sakura smiled. She always loved weddings. Tomoyo and her used to sneak out to the ceremonial palace just to see them.

"And you know that famous designer? Of the Daidouji fame, Tomoyo? I've managed, or rather, I suppose, Takashi managed to get her for us! Isn't that wonderful?" Chiharu, a couple years in Sakura's senior, still acted half her age. She was a giggling teenager all over again.

Tomoyo, of course, just the person that pops into Sakura's head when the word marriage is mentioned. Of course she was the most popular designer of them all. Sakura was a little bitter at the thought of seeing Tomoyo again. After all, it wasn't her fault for the falling apart.

"_It's always like this Sakura, can you just focus on me of a minute? Or really if it's too much to ask for, can you focus on life?" Tomoyo screamed, her eyes already red from crying._

"_Am I not? I am focusing on life, on reality, on things that happen! It's you, you Tomoyo, who fail to see everything and continue to live in the happy remains of your imaginary world!" Sakura bitterly returned, smoking the cigarette she had in her hand._

"_Stop smoking! Just, just stop everything Sakura! Nothing you can do will ever change anything!" Tomoyo yelled, and took the cigarette out of Sakura's hand and took a drag before throwing it on the floor and putting it out._

"_How can I stop? How can you bear to stand our people, our families in shame? How can you stand to be among these people, these people that decided our people weren't good enough and blew the whole planet away!" Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's shoulders and looked into her eyes. _

"_It's in the past, all in the past. Will you ever just leave it be? Ever?" Tomoyo looked hopefully back into Sakura's eyes, but her hope was crushed. "Never huh? Just always be the bitter you. Where is the sweet, loving and caring girl I once knew?"_

_Tomoyo freed herself from Sakura's grip and ran away crying. Leaving Sakura in a sense of emptiness. _

Sakura had come a long way since that fight five years ago. Still, she'd rather not bring up those painful memories of laying around, being useless and full of self pity.

Shaking her to get rid of those dark lonely days, she pretended like those were just remnants of a bad nightmare that refused to go away.

"And you know what? You're going to be my bridemaid!" Chiharu finished her plans, her flowers, her dresses and her wedding in general with that comment. It also brought Sakura back into reality.

"What?" Was all really that Sakura could manage.

"Just like you to be so dense sweetie! You're going to be my bridesmaid! You'll get to meet Tomoyo, and trust me, you'll love her. The tastes she has, man, they're not out there, but actually pretty realistic!"

Just like Chiharu to talk about her wedding in that way. As Chiharu went on about costs and guests, Takashi popped his head in the cockpit.

"Darling, come now, don't bore Sakura with the details, I'm having to much fun, you must bore me!" Takashi winked at Sakura and dragged a rather complaining yet happy Chiharu with him.

Sakura sighed, and wondered, really wondered what she planned to do with her life after this run.


End file.
